Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:05:12.557Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Viroconium Cornoviorum Atlas: high resolution, high precision non-invasive mapping of a Roman civitas capital in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Martijn van Leusen ,
Glynn Barratt  and
Vince Gaffney
Martijn van Leusen
Affiliation:
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research/Groningen Institute of Archaeology
Glynn Barratt
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Vince Gaffney
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Accurate mapping of the 78-ha Roman town of Viroconium (modern-day Wroxeter in Shropshire, UK) in preparation for detailed research and site management proved a task that requires the use of modern information techniques. This article describes the creation of high spatial accuracy maps by the use of GPS-located gradiometer survey data in order to georeference available aerial photographs, and the use of digital processing of aerial photographs to obtain additional information invisible to the unaided eye. A GIS is being used to build a vectorized interpreted map of the town with a spatial error typically less than one metre. The results compare favourably with previous mapping efforts based on traditional methods.

Des techniques informatiques modernes ont été utilisées lors d'un levé de plan très précis des 78 hectares de la ville romaine de Viroconium (ville moderne de Wroxeter, Shropshire, UK), pour des recherches détaillés et la gestion du site. Cet article décrit comment une grande exactitude spatiale a pu être achevée grace aux résultats produits lors de l'utilisation d'un gradiométre éuipé d'un outil de localisation par satellite, afin de géoreferencer les photographies aeriennes disponibles ainsi que leur digitalisation qui a permis d'obtenir des informations additionelles invisibles à l'oeil nu. Un système d'information géographique a été utilisé pour la production d'une carte vectorielle de la ville avec une erreur spatiale de moins d'un mètre. Ces résultats se comparent donc très favorablement à ceux obtenus à partir de méthodes traditionelles.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Bei der Vorbereitung von Detailuntersuchungen und Erhaltungsmassnahmen zeigte sich, dass das Ziel einer genaue Aufnahme der 78 ha grossen Stadt von Viroconium (des heutigen Wroxeter in Shropshire, GB), den Einsatz moderner Informationstechnologien erforderte. Der Artikel beschreibt die Herstellung höher räumlicher Genauigkeit durch den Gebrauch von GPS-gestützter Gradiometer Survey Daten in Verbindung mit Luftbildern als Geo-Referenzmaterial sowie den Gebrauch von digitalisierten Luftbildern um zusätzliche, für das ungeschulte Auge unsichtbare Informationen, zu erhalten. Ein Informationssystem wird benützt um einen vektorisiert ausgewerteten Plan der Stadt, mit einem kennzeichnenden räumlichen Fehler von weniger als einem Meter, zu erstellen. Die Ergebnisse stellen eine Verbesserung gegenüber den auf traditionellen Methoden basierten Kartierungsversuchen dar.

Keywords

digital mappingGISGPSimage enhancementspatial accuracy
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , 1999 , pp. 393 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 Sage Publications 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, W. A., 1992. Air Archaeology in the Valley of the River Severn. , University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Barker, P. (ed.), 1990. From Roman Viroconium to Medieval Wroxeter: Recent Work on the Site of the Roman City of Wroxeter. Worcester: West Mercia Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.Google Scholar
Barratt, G., 1995. The GPS control grid at Wroxeter. Unpublished report. Birmingham: BUFAU.Google Scholar
Barratt, G., Bullas, S. and Doyle, S., 1999. Digital Mapping and Remote Sensing at Merv (Digital data integration in a field context), in Archaeology in the Age of the Internet: Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods 1997. Oxford: BAR, International Series 750.Google Scholar
BUFAU (Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit), 1996. The Wroxeter Hinterland Project web site, http://www.bufau.bham.ac.uk/projects/WH/base.html.Google Scholar
Gaffney, C. F., Gaffney, V. L. and Corney, M., forthcoming. Changing the Roman Landscape: The Role of Geophysics and Remote Sensing. London: English Heritage.Google Scholar
Gaffney, C. and Linford, P., 1999. The Application of Geophysical Techniques at Wroxeter Roman City, in Archaeology in the Age of the Internet: Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods 1997. Oxford: BAR, International Series 750.Google Scholar
Gaffney, V. and van Leusen, M., 1996. Extending GIS Methods for Regional Archaeology: the Wroxeter Hinterland Project. In Kamermans, H. and Fennema, K. (eds), Interfacing the Past. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology CAA95: 297–305.Google Scholar
Millett, M., 1990. The Romanisation of Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Survey, Ordnance, 1972. The Overhaul of the 1:2500 County Series Plans, Professional Papers,' New Series 25: 6. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Ryan, N., Pascoe, J. and Morse, D., 1999. Enhanced Reality Fieldwork: the Context Aware Archaeological Assistant, In Archaeology in the Age of the Internet: Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 1997. Oxford: BAR, International Series 750.Google Scholar
Scollar, I., Tabbagh, A., Hesse, A. and Herzog, I., 1990. Archaeological Prospection and Remote Sensing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
White, R. H., 1996. Building an urban image. Archeologia e Calcolatori 7: 137–147.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. M., 1984. The plan of Viroconium Cornoviorum. Antiquity 58: 117–120.Google Scholar
WHP forthcoming. The Wroxeter Hinterland Project: Final report, JRA.Google Scholar